Montreal Becomes Latest City To Ban Pit Bulls

Trending News: Pit Bulls Are Officially Banned In Montreal

Why Is This Important?

Because there is still a lot of debate over whether breed-specific bans are fair or effective.

Long Story Short

Montreal city council’s bylaw banning the buying or adoption of pit bulls has come into effect, following the mauling death of a woman in June.

Long Story

With a new law that is emotionally fraught and controversial, the city of Montreal has banned new sales and adoptions of pit bulls, following the mauling death of a woman last June.

The law, which was approved last week and takes effect today, Monday, Oct. 3, also forces existing owners to register their dogs in order to keep them. Owners will have to pay a $125, undergo a criminal background check, keep the dogs on a tight leash and keep them muzzled when they are outdoors, even in a fenced-off yard. All existing “pit bull-type dogs” also have to be sterilized. Owners who do not follow the law may have their dogs put down.

The law has outraged animal advocates and dog lovers, who say the breed has been unfairly targeted and that its fearsome reputation is unfair and inaccurate. Animal lovers have also set up petitions against the law, some calling for a boycott of Montreal (and comparing the ban, perhaps unhelpfully, to the Holocaust and the civil wars in Iraq and Syria).

And at least two lawsuits are challenging the law: one from the Montreal SPCA, which argues the language of the law is vague, that little scientific evidence exists to back up claims the breed is dangerous, and that it is in violation of the province of Quebec’s own laws that grant animals the status of sentient beings. The other is being prepared by a group of lawyers and animal behaviorists.

A senior member of the Montreal administration said that since January of 2015, pit bulls were involved in about half of the 362 dog bite cases in which the breed could be identified. However, some experts argue that the legislation is a massive overreaction to a fairly minor problem: only two or three people are killed by dog bites in Canada a year. Statistically, writes one, “This means that you are seven times more likely to die by being struck by lightning than from a dog attack.”

A ruling in the SPCA judicial review is expected later this week.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Is banning a specific breed really anything more than a knee-jerk reaction?

Disrupt Your Feed

There are probably a lot of people who are secretly relieved about not seeing pit bulls around anymore but won’t cop to it.